Very few tasks can be satisfactorily accomplished by people in darkness. For the most part, it is essential to see what we are doing, and our ability to see is proportional to the amount of available light. To supplement insufficient available light, people often use portable illumination tools or devices. Illumination tools or devices, e.g., flashlights, are readily available and virtually universal in application. While styles of these lights vary widely, with specialized structures for select applications, their capabilities are divisible into definable categories that are well known to those within the illumination tools community, see for example the products of SureFire® LLC, California, USA, “2004 Illumination Tools.”
Two categories of lights are personal or hand-carried (i.e., hand), and surface-mounted (i.e., surface). Hand lights generally, do not have, as a functional element, the ability to be attached/secured to anything, save for a pocket, vis-a-vis a clip, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,547,415 (Matthews), or a belt, vis-a-vis a holster or scabbard, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,074 (Matthews). Hand lights have elements and features that make them most functional while being held in the hand, either “in carry” or “in use.”
Surface lights, typically characterized by a fixture having an integral lamp, are designed to achieve their functionality (i.e., are optimally functional) when attached to a specific object, the functionality being achieved by means of the provision and arrangement of components to accomplish the specific object attachment. For example, in the context of target illumination devices, a lamp is integrally provided as part of a fixture, e.g., a housing or module, for attachment to a weapon, more particularly, to a weapon rail, see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,105 (Teetzel) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,810 (Kim), the Bright Light Aiming System Tactical (BLAST) 2 from Laser Devices, Inc., California USA, and/or dedicated forend weaponlights from SureFire. Fixtures for target illumination devices also contemplate vertical foregrips equipped with lamp assemblies, see e.g., those of SureFire.
Heretofore known attempts to attain the aforementioned hybrid functionality for an illumination tool appear limited, known devices suffering a variety of limitations, several among them being a lack of versatility, and a lack of, or at least less than desirable, environmental or use integrity (e.g., device/assembly adjustment, repair and maintenance due to a less than desirable interface between the tool and the surface to which it is attached). For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,485 (Matthews), which is a continuation of Matthews '415 previously noted, discloses a bolt/C-clamp combination wherein the clamp is secured about a tube, a head of the bolt being received in an undercut groove intermediate of a flashlight housing; and, U.S. patent application Pub. No. US2003/0202345 (Kim) which discloses ring forming elements securable about a switch end of a flashlight, one of the ring forming elements including a clamping element (e.g., Weaver style) for attachment to a rail structure of a firearm.
While it is critical that the interface between the personal illumination tool and the fixture within which it is to be received is secure and unwavering, heretofore known assemblies or fixtures have required tools to accomplish securing or integrating the illumination tool to/with the fixture, see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,703 (Capps, III) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,875 (Fell et al.). While the use of tools for securing the illumination tool with respect to the fixture is less than desirable, the absence of a secure, reliable mechanical interface for the illumination tool, see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,851,214 (Oz), is likewise to be avoided as less than advantageous.
Prior efforts, namely those of Applicant/assignee RM Equipment, Inc. of Miami Fla., are known and documented. For instance, in connection with a weapon grip assembly, an interface structure (e.g., a flashlight assembly) is depicted and described in Applicant's published international application WO 2005/017439 A2 (see e.g., FIGS. 11 & 12), the underlaying application thereof, i.e., PCT US2003/035601, being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Improvements in the aforementioned approach are likewise known and documented.
In Applicant's published international application WO 2006/050163 Al, the underlaying application thereof, i.e., PCT US2005/039079, filed Oct. 31, 2005 and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, there is shown and described an interface apparatus having an enhanced form and function. Two representative depictions of that illumination assembly (i.e., FIGS. 5 & 2) are provided herewith as FIGS. 1 & 2 respectively. In short, and with reference to those figures, an internal surface ring 26 of sleeve 16 of mounting apparatus 12 is bound between portions of illumination tool 14 (FIG. 2), namely end cap 84 and shoulder 90 of tool body 80 (i.e., upon assembly or reintegration of the illumination tool components within the sleeve, ring 26 is “caught” within a gap delimited by the aforementioned cap and shoulder and which is otherwise intended to receive a band of a lanyard system, see e.g., FIG. 3 reference character 120).
In light of the foregoing, there thus remains a need to provide an apparatus and/or assembly which incorporates or combines the aforementioned functionalities, namely, those of the hand and surface lights. Furthermore, and advantageously, such device and/or assembly should provide for a simple, no-tool mechanical interface. Moreover, an advantageous illumination assembly should minimize, or preferably eliminate a need to disintegrate the illumination tool, more particularly, disintegrate and reintegrate the illumination tool so as to be integrally formed with a portion of the illumination assembly. Further yet, such apparatus, and assembly incorporating same, should provide for heretofore unseen versatility, more particularly, a modularity such that an illumination tool, directly or indirectly, might be quickly secured to a variety of select surfaces vis-a-vis a variety of mounting means or fixtures, and still further, such device/assembly should confidently retain the tool in all regards so as to, for example, prevent misalignment of same, and associated misdirection of the light beam so generated, or generally undermine the integrity of either the tool, the device/assembly, or the surface supporting same.